MOSCOW, Russia, June 2. THE Russian sports minister feels his country’s swimming federation is one of several sports in danger of suspension from international competition based on recent history of major doping violations.

Vitaly Mutko told The Associated Press that the recent high-profile suspension of Yuliya Efimova and others this year have put the Russian Swimming Federation in a bad light with FINA, the international governing body for aquatics. Swimming is the only sport Mutko publicly mentioned that could lose its competition status, but said a few other sports are on the edge as well.

“One or two more breaches and the federation could be suspended altogether,” Mutko said. The article did not mention if Mutko or the swimming federation was given an ultimatum or warning by FINA that would prompt such a comment.

No swimming federation has had its competition privileges revoked in recent history due to a high number of doping suspensions. Brazil is another country that annually has a high number of doping violations, though that number appears to be on the decline. Most publicly, Cesar Cielo was one of four athletes who were eventually given warnings after testing positive in 2011 for ingesting a banned substance from an over-the-counter supplement.

And despite its years of troubles with doping, China was never given a suspension from competition after dozens of female swimmers tested positive for banned substances in 1994 and 1995.

Author: Jeff Commings

Jeff Commings is the Senior Writer for SwimmingWorld.com and Swimming World Magazine. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism and was a nine-time NCAA All-American.